


Another Word For "Us"

by Dramaticdragon



Series: Post-Friendenemies [2]
Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: GUESS WHO WROTE THAT SEQUEL, M/M, Post canon, Post-Too Little Too Late... Or Is It?, Y'ALL TALKED ME INTO IT, its me, oh goodness, soooo post-post-episode, tomco - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-08-23 07:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 16,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8318857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dramaticdragon/pseuds/Dramaticdragon
Summary: "Too Little Too Late... Or Is It?" ended, but Tom and Marco's adventures are far from over. There are many trials to being in a relationship, especially if you're two different species! Can Marco and Tom make it, or will the stress be too much to bear?





	1. Chapter 1: The New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> WOW! So after 18 long chapters of "Too Little Too Late... Or Is It?", with countless kind comments, I finally caved in and started PART TWO! Y'all better believe i was THIS CLOSE too calling it "Never Too Little" bc of the originals title but i was like "nah man be original for once dramaticdragon". so here we are!!!  
> But I want you all to know, I'm writing this because of all your kind words of encouragement! My life can get pretty busy/stressful, but you all left such sweet comments that it really kept me pushing!!! So thank you all so much, so so much! I really hope you enjoy this just as much, if not more! And I hope you stick with me again, just like last time!!!  
> So, now that this massive "notes" is done... ENJOY Chapter 1!!!

Tom glanced at the mirror standing in his room, making sure that he looked just right. Of course, he wasn’t wearing any fancy suit or get-up, just his normal clothes, but still. He had to look good.

            Two weeks ago, Tom joined Marco for a dance at Marco’s school, which started off well, but ended in disaster. Disaster was a compliment.

            One week ago, Marco visited Tom, after a solid week of Tom ignoring everyone’s calls. Marco had explained that Tom _didn’t_ ruin the dance, and that everyone was worried about him. Which was a vast improvement from Tom’s expectations, of everyone hating him.

            The best part about the whole trip was when Marco explained that Tom’s feelings weren’t just one-way. Tom had a crush on Marco for a while now, but simply repressed it and bottled it up as much as possible, since he was so convinced that Marco could never feel the same way. On the contrary, however, Marco was the one to confess that he had feelings for Tom. They were finally able to finish their unfinished dance from the week prior, which ended in an uninterrupted kiss.

            Things were going well.

            And Tom was going to hang out with Marco and some of his friends at the movies! Tom was finally getting confident enough to go back into public again (even if Marco said he didn’t ruin anything; it takes a lot to convince Tom’s confidence). Thankfully, he wasn’t too worried about Marco’s friends, Alfonso and Ferguson, judging him. They seemed pretty chill about most things, and from Marco’s messages over the mirror, they _preferred_ to dance on those jello-craters Star made from Tom’s anger.

            There was only one major thing that Tom could complain about, really.

            Even though he and Marco both admitted to shared romantic feelings, and shared a kiss, they hadn’t actually addressed a ‘name’ for their relationship. Tom didn’t want to press too much, and risk making Marco uncomfortable, but he really wanted to settle on something soon. Were they boyfriends now? Or friends-that-occasionally-kiss? Or…?

            Tom sighed, shaking it out of his head. It would do no good to worry about all that before heading out.

            So, with one final check to his hair, Tom snapped his fingers and sent himself up to earth.


	2. Chapter 2: The Movies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom finally goes out for the first time in 2 weeks!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bonus points if you can guess the movie

 

            Tom appeared in a flash of flames in front of the Diaz residence, and knocked on the door. Again, he found it a useless custom, but respected it nevertheless.

            Pretty soon, Marco showed up, and walked out to greet Tom.

            “Tom!” Marco smiled, “I’m really glad you could make it!”

            Tom nodded and started to walk with Marco towards the movie theater. Alfonso and Ferguson had agreed to meet them there.

            “So this movie…” Tom said, “What is it about?”

            “Well, from what the previews have, it seems like this detective who works with an ex-convict to solve some weird mystery about missing citizens.”

            “So it’s a buddy-cop movie.” Tom laughed.

            “No!... yeah. It’s a buddy-cop movie.” Marco sighed, defeated, but laughed with Tom.

            Tom felt a warm flame rush through him at Marco’s laughter, and it only increased when Marco rested a hand on Tom’s shoulder.

            “But it seems really good! Star’s already seen it and she says it’s really good,” Marco said, removing his hand.

            “Alright, alright,” Tom laughed, “I believe you.”

            The two walked on in comfortable silence, and Tom enjoyed looking around him. Although the human world was often more of a nuisance than a good, it did have some beautiful scenery. The trees were bright and green, and there were colors everywhere. It was nice to just walk and enjoy it.

            However, Tom was still a little worried. Marco hadn’t mentioned anything about last week. Did he regret it? Did he not want to have anything romantic with Tom at all? What if Tom mentioned anything, would he be upset or embarrassed? Did Marco want-

            “So, Tom…” Marco started, snapping Tom out of his worry. He was probably just overanalyzing the whole thing, right?

            “Yeah?” Tom asked.

            “If Alfonso or Ferguson ask about-”

            But before Marco could finish his words, they were interrupted by a loud shout.

            “Marco!!! Tom!!!”

            Both looked up quickly, greeted by Alfonso and Ferguson waving at them.

            “Hey, it took you guys forever!” Ferguson laughed, walking up to them.

            “Oh, yeah, we walk slow I guess,” Marco laughed with a shrug. He seemed to have dropped whatever it was he wanted to ask Tom earlier, so Tom decided to drop it, too.

            “Are you ready to see some cop drama?” Alfonso grinned, already excited.          

            “I’m always ready for cop drama!” Marco nodded enthusiastically.

            The group walked into the theater, bought their tickets, and went towards the concessions.

            “Wait, guys,” Tom interrupted with a small chuckle, “don’t _buy_ anything, I can just make some when we get to our movie. Magic, remember?”

            “But that’s _illegal_!” Marco hushed, waving his hand, “We can’t bring in any food! It’s against the rules.”

            “Aw, come on Marco,” Ferguson laughed, “You know how expensive movie theater candy is!”

            “Peer pressure will do nothing to me.” Marco said, matter-of-factly, “We’re following the rules.”

            “But-”

            Alfonso and Ferguson’s complaints were cut off by Tom waving his hand dismissively.

            “It’s fine, we’ll follow the rules.” Tom said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out some human money to _buy_ candy.

            Marco smiled at Tom, appreciative.

            They all bought their individual food and also bought a large popcorn to share. Then, they headed to their room to watch the movie. They were somewhat early, so they were able to get pretty good seats up near the middle-top. They sat Alfonso, Ferguson, Marco, then Tom.

            “So, Tom,” Alfonso said and they all sat down, “It’s been two weeks since we’ve seen you!”

            “Oh, yeah, I guess time passes quickly…” Tom said, embarrassed. He spent a whole week hiding in shame and wasn’t anywhere near ready to admit that to others. Only Marco can know.

            “I heard you and _Marcooo_ spent some time together, though…” Ferguson said, his voice rising to a jokingly girlish voice.

            “Huh-” Tom mumbled, interrupted by Marco smacking Ferguson’s shoulder.

            “Ferguson, don’t even start that!” Marco huffed, pointing a finger at Ferguson.

            “Don’t start what?” Ferguson shrugged, with a devious grin crowing on his face.

            “Yeah, Marco,” Alfonso added, leaning into the ordeal, “You two did dance together, remember? So what’s the final verdict?”

            “Verdict?” Tom echoed, still a bit surprised at the whole thing. He could obviously figure out what they were starting to hint at, but Tom wasn’t sure to what extent. Marco seemed to have dealt with this before, too.

            “When’s the wedding?” Ferguson asked, then he and Alfonso burst out in laughter.

            “Urgh!” Marco growled, punching Ferguson in the side and trying to reach over to hit Alfonso.

            Tom was laughing on the outside (after all, the slapstick _was_ pretty funny), but internally he was incredibly worried. Firstly, his crush on Marco clearly must have been _way_ more obvious than he realized, if it had gotten to this. Secondly, he was worried for Marco. Did it really bother Marco that much? Well… what worried Tom more was _which part_ bothered Marco.

            Was it just the public teasing? Was it just embarrassing to Marco to get teased about something? If that was all, Tom could easily work with that. He didn’t like being teased, either.

            But what if it was more? What if Marco was bothered that they were teasing him about liking Tom? If that was it, that was a lot more troublesome. Was he embarrassed by Tom? Did the idea of being a couple with him disgust him?

            Tom took a deep breath, slowly taking a bite of his chocolate bar, focusing on not melting it. He really wanted to enjoy this outing, and enjoy the movie. He liked Ferguson and Alfonso, and he wanted to enjoy hanging out with them, too. They were really chill for humans, so he felt okay having purple skin and horns and all. He really wished they’d stop teasing Marco, though…

            _At the end of the day,_ Tom reminded himself, _I want Marco to be happy._

That meant with or without Tom.

            He learned from his past mistakes with Star. He wasn’t going to force anything anymore. He wanted Marco to be happy, and if Marco was too embarrassed to be with Tom, then they wouldn’t date.    

            It sucked, yeah. It sucked a lot, actually. Having a crush _sucks_. But sometimes you just have to accept that some things are bigger than your own comfort…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd like to point out that ferguson and alfonso are DEFINITELY the type to be like "aarree you daaaatttttiiiiinggg" anytime marco makes eye contact with someone to tease him, especially with Tom


	3. Chapter 3: The Popcorn Indicent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom enjoys the rest of the movie with Marco, along with some silent messages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BONUS POINTS IF YOU CAN GUESS THE MOVIE

 

            About half-way through the movie, Ferguson finally handed over the popcorn container. Tom heard Marco whisper “finally”, as he held the container in between he and Tom. Tom tried not to laugh as he looked and saw it was already half empty. But he saw Alfonso eating a lot, too, so he can’t blame Ferguson 100%.

            Tom had to admit, the movie actually wasn’t bad. At least thus far. The main character was interesting, the plot wasn’t half bad after all, and the mystery was an actual mystery. Even the whole trope of ‘ex-con turned good’ wasn’t done the same way as usual. Plus, there was this really funny scene at a DMV where- oh, nevermind. The movie was good.

            Eyes still glued to the screen, Tom reached a hand into the popcorn box, grabbing a large handful, when he felt something smooth against his hand.

            Was it Marco’s hand?!

            Wait, no, it was just the side of the box. Marco was drinking some soda.

            Tom sighed, kind of disappointed. It was too cheesy to happen in real life, he guessed.

            After shoving an embarrassingly large handful into his mouth, he noticed one little popcorn fell to the ground. Without thinking, he bent down to get it, almost popping it into his mouth when he noticed Marco’s disgusted face, watching.

            Slowly, Tom closed his mouth, and put the popcorn in the cup holder.

            At first, Marco’s face was a slow, dead serious nod, then he couldn’t help but laugh a little, covering his mouth to keep quiet. Tom laughed, too, at the silliness of it all. It was pretty gross, now that he thought about it.

            “Did you want it?” Tom jokingly asked in a low whisper, pulling the popcorn out of the cupholder and holding up to Marco’s face. He reeled back, making that disgusted face again, zipping his mouth tight.

            “Come on, aren’t you hungry?” Tom kept at it, waving the nasty floor-popcorn around.

            “Tom!” Marco whisper-laughed, grabbing Tom’s hand and holding it away.

            They both grinned, clearly laughing inside so they didn’t make noise. They leaned back into their chairs like normal, but neither let go. Mentally, Tom was making the excuse that if Marco let go, he’d risk nasty popcorn. But he finished teasing with popcorn. And Marco was holding his hand.

            And Marco hadn’t let go.

            Slowly, hardly moving, Tom let go of the popcorn. It fell to the ground again, and slowly… slowly… slowly, Tom moved his hand, holding Marco’s.

            And Marco still didn’t let go.

            Tom tried not to fidget in his seat, hoping he wasn’t literally burning a hole in his seat. His fingers were intertwined with Marco’s, and their hands rested on the armrest between them.

            Neither of them had even looked near the other yet. But slowly, Tom’s eyes lowered towards their hands. Then up Marco’s arm, and slowly making eye-contact with Marco.

            They stared at each other, only half of their faces visible in with the light from the screen. Both had tight cheeks from trying not to grin too wide, and both eyes glistening with the childish enjoyment. It felt like a playground scandal, holding hands underneath the jungle-gym. And even though they had already kissed, this tiny little ‘holding hands’ felt so much more real, and much more intimate. Maybe because the kiss was almost a ‘heat of the moment’, and this was completely deliberate. And they hadn’t stopped. The movie went on, and everyone’s lives continued just like nothing else was different.

            And yet, to Tom, everything was different.

            Maybe Marco wasn’t ashamed, after all…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've had a surprising amount of "accidental handholding when reaching for something in a bowl" in my life


	4. Chapter 4: The Title

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Marco finally discuss the nature of their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short but v gay
> 
> also shoutout to MysteryWriter36 who guessed the movie right!!!!

 

            A few days had passed since Tom went to the movies with Marco and his friends. Tom and Marco decided to have another hang-out, but this time, it was just them. They were at Marco’s house, watching some videos on Marco’s laptop. Marco said he wasn’t really in the mood for a full length movie, so they were just flipping through YouTube videos. They were watching one of those human “Let’s Plays”, or whatever they were called. Tom thought they were interesting. They hadn’t talked much, just sat on Marco’s bed in comfortable silence while they watched the videos.

            But eventually, Tom knew he’d have to break the silence. It was too much to sit _this_ close to Marco without saying anything about it! However, before Tom could open his mouth, Marco spoke up first.

            “Hey, Tom?”

            “Yeah?”

            “There was something I wanted to, uh, ask you…”

            Uh oh. Here it is. The _Talk_. Hopefully, it was a good talk…

            “What it is?” Tom prompted, even if he was worried. He turned to face Marco completely.

            “Well… I don’t want to make you uncomfortable… But, sometimes, with humans, that is… Well, since we did _kiss_ and all-”

            Tom gulped quietly as Marco continued.

            “I was just wondering if maybe, you wanted to give it a name?” Marco finished, glancing between the computer screen and Tom.

            “It?” Tom asked, worried.

            “Well, _us_ ,” Marco corrected.

            Tom blinked, and nodded slowly in understanding.

            _Us._

            So there was an ‘us’. There was something that deserved a special title between he and Marco. Something that was different from friends. There was something that was different between Tom and Marco than between, say, Marco and Ferguson, or Janna, or Alfonso, or even Star.

            There was a special _Tom and Marco_.

            “What do you want to call it?” Tom asked, almost scared. He wanted so badly to give it the highest name possible, but he didn’t want to pressure Marco. Plus, he wasn’t entirely positive of how humans treated romantic territory.

            Marco shrugged slowly, still staring at the keyboard.

            “Um… Does ‘boyfriend’ sound okay to you?” He finally asked, his eyes slowly raising up to meet Tom’s.

            Tom squeezed his hands in his lap, trying to make sure he didn’t burn down the Diaz residence from excitement. But he couldn’t help accidentally lighting his right horn on fire- but it was small, so it didn’t actually burn anything.

            “Y-Yeah…” Tom nodded, grabbing his horn to put out the fire, “Boyfriends sounds… really nice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally they are bfs


	5. Chapter 5: We're Boyfriends Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Marco spend some time together as boyfriends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finALLY these two little lumps have given their relationship a title. about time. now they can kiss with less contemplation from Tom aka "Mr. Over-analylizer". Enjoy.

 

            “Ugh, why doesn’t he just jump?!” Tom growled, laying down on Marco’s bed with Marco’s laptop on the front pillow. He and Marco were both laying on their stomachs, watching the online videos. They were currently watching an _infuriating_ video of these two guys playing some human game, and playing it _awfully_. Why did humans find this enjoying?

            “He probably thinks the ledge is too high to jump on.” Marco said, shrugging, not even looking away from the screen, “the shadow makes it look higher.”

            “Whatever, if he’d just take two seconds to try jumping it’d work…” Tom grumbled, crossing his arms under his head.

            After his complaints, he glanced over to Marco, who was still watching the video. Marco had a small pillow under his chin, propping his head up, one arm underneath the pillow. The other was hanging out, holding his phone. His eyes were lazy, just staring mindlessly at the computer screen.

            Slowly, Tom looked back to the screen as well. It was so strange to look at Marco suddenly, now that they were…

            _Boyfriends_.

            When Tom and Star first became boyfriend and girlfriend, it was a big ordeal. They were both pretty high standing (Star was a _princess_ , after all), so there was news about it everywhere. Since they were kids, the extent of the ‘news’ was just gossip magazines for young girls of Mewni, but still! They went out on an extravagant date to announce their relationship status.

            But with Marco, it was almost the _exact opposite_. They were watching YouTube as friends. Then they talked, and agreed, and became boyfriends. Then they went back to watching videos. The only thing that actually changed was the placement of the laptop. It went from the desk to a pillow. Big change, right?

            To Tom, it felt strange. He supposed he had gotten used to big ordeals, especially with how overdramatic Star was. To him, dating was something to announce! Maybe it was just ingrained in him, since he was a very high-standing demon, that it was important to… Well, he wasn’t entirely sure why it was so important. Maybe to ‘carry on the family line’ or something silly? He wasn’t sure _why_ , but he knew it was important to him. Maybe it was a pride thing. He was proud to date someone and thought it was a matter that deserved to be bragged about. He was proud to be able to call someone like Marco his boyfriend.

            But then, at the same time, something felt _right_ about just lying in bed watching videos after it. It felt… natural. Plus, they were lying pretty close, so that was new.

            Eventually, the video ended.

            “Alright, Tom,” Marco said, “Do you want to watch something else, or just watch the next episode of this?”

            “You pick,” Tom answered with a shrug.

            “Oh, come on, I asked you first!” Marco laughed, jokingly pushing Tom gently.

            “Fine,” Tom chuckled, “Let’s watch another one of these guy’s videos.”

            Marco nodded, and reached up to press the ‘Next’ button.

            “Do you like them? The guys in the videos,” Marco asked, glancing over to Tom as their intro started.

            “Yeah, they’re funny,” Tom nodded.

            Marco smiled, facing Tom as the video started.

            Tom couldn’t help but smile, too. Marco was really attractive… And seeing him smile at Tom would never fail to warm Tom’s heart- well, in a good way!

            Without thinking much, Tom started to slowly lean in, closer to Marco’s magnetic smile.

            And Marco seemed to feel the same, since within a moment, the two met in a kiss.

            “Oh, u-uh,” Tom stuttered, backing up quickly, leaning so far back he actually hit his head against the wall, “sorry…”

            Marco blinked, surprised that Tom separated so quickly, then let out a quiet huff of a laugh.

            “You don’t have to be sorry.” Marco said, resting back in his spot calmly, although his cheeks were notably redder.

            “…Oh.” Tom mumbled, slowly lying back in his spot as well, although more focused on Marco than the video.

            “Yeah… You can do that, y’know, if you want…” Marco said with a small shrug, “I don’t mind.”

            Marco bit his lip a little, then continued.

            “I like it… And plus, we’re boyfriends now…” He finished, much quieter than before.

            Tom gulped, eyes quickly snapping to the laptop, nodding.

            _We’re boyfriends now_ , Tom thought, echoing Marco’s words in his mind. Slowly, his eyes wandered back to Marco again, who was smiling as he watched the videos. Tom smiled, too, and rested his head over his arms, finally calm.

            _Yeah,_ He thought, _We’re boyfriends now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up yall my schedule is all types of stressful so my typical daily updates might slow down (or it might not, since i think my schedule will slow a little in a few days) who knows.


	6. Chapter 6: The Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom turns to a life of thievery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd like to take a moment of silence for my Animal Crossing villager, Croque, who's moving away tomorrow. I'll miss you Croque. Please, please be replaced by a cute villager. Please.

Tom couldn’t help but laugh at himself. He was a demon, sure, but a _thief_? Now that was just below him. Well, maybe not, but still! He didn’t typically steal things, is the point. It was humorous, really. This is what he’s become: A dirty little scoundrel and a thief.

            A sneaky little hoodie thief.

            It started completely unintentional, actually. Since he got so used to his own realm, the earth dimension was much cooler than his. So after watching so many videos with Marco, he started to get cold, as anyone would. Marco, being the kind soul he was, offered to let Tom wear one of his fourteen hoodies- why he had fourteen, Tom wasn’t sure. So Tom wore the hoodie for the whole rest of their little hang-out, and ended up leaving in it, too. He had actually forgotten that he was still wearing it until he got to his room and untied his shoes. Oh hey, look at those red sleeves that aren’t yours. Whoops.

            But Tom couldn’t stop his small, childish laughter at it. They were boyfriends for a solid 5 hours, and he already stole a hoodie. A new earth record, probably.

            Tom couldn’t help himself, he stood in front of the full-length mirror and took a full view of himself. It wasn’t exactly his style, but he loved it. It reminded him of Marco, considering Marco wore those sticking things nearly every day.

            Softly, Tom stuck him hands in the little hoodie pocket, feeling if it had anything in it. Nope, just a little lint. Tom tries to pull up the hood, as well, but his horns stopped him halfway. Tom grinned, staring at his reflection.

            He even pulled silly little poses, pulling the hoodie down and messing with the drawstring on the hood. Something about Marco just made him… silly. But it was a happy silly.

            It was a feeling Tom surely missed.

            But it wasn’t just the ‘having a boyfriend’ aspect, either! It was Marco himself, through and through. Marco, his friend who helps him when he’s upset and understands; Marco, his boyfriend who kisses him as they watch video games.

            It felt like having a whole new home away from home, in Marco.

            Feeling giddy from the whole day’s events, Tom grabbed his mobile mirror and took a selfie with the hoodie.

            _[I look pretty good, don’t u think?]_

Tom chuckled, sending the message along with his hoodie selfie. It was too bad he couldn’t pull the hood up all the way.

            _[Thief]_

Tom laughed, proud that he predicted exactly how Marco would reply. That’s right, he was close enough to someone to guess how they’d answer! So cool.

            _[Hey, it’s not stealing if I just forgot to give it back]_

Tom placed his mirror back on the table while he waited for an answer, then had an epiphany and shoved it in his hoodie pocket instead. However, he got a text back pretty quickly.

            _[haha that’s still stealing!]_

 Tom shrugged, as if Marco could see him.  

            He glanced back at the mirror, smiling at his reflection again. Lying down, holding his mirror, all in Marco’s hoodie.

            It was warm. Not just because Tom’s body heat warmed it up, too. It was an affectionate warm. It reminded him of Marco, and it felt like Marco. It even smelled a little like Marco’s cologne, even though he only wore it occasionally.

            Tom sighed happily, shoving his head against his pillows.

            “Thank you, Marco…” Tom hummed, gently rubbing his thumb against the hoodie’s sleeve.

            _[I better not see any horn-holes in my hoodie, tom! :p]_

Tom chuckled. No, he didn’t make any holes in it.

            _[Here, I’ll send it back]_

But as Tom sat up, he knew very well he wasn’t going to send it back. Sorry Marco, but he had already made a home in this hoodie. So, he’d make a compromise. Tom had a few hoodies of his own, from when he visited some colder dimensions.

            Tom grabbed one of his own hoodies. It was dark blue, with orange dots sewn into the cuffs of the sleeves. Otherwise, it was an average, nothing-special hoodie.

With a snap of the fingers, the hoodie disappeared, and showed up on Marco’s bed.

            Within a minute, Tom got another text.

            _[wrong hoodie, but it’ll have to do]_

Tom grinned, looking at the photo.

            It was a selfie, this time from Marco, who was wearing Tom’s hoodie. He was smiling, sticking his free hand through the neatly sewn up horn holes in the top. Since Tom had it before, he had someone sew the top holes so the thread wouldn’t constantly get stuck.

            He looked nice, as a matter of fact. Tom hoped that Marco liked the hoodie as much as Tom liked Marco’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tom lowkey plays Jenny by Studio Killers as he wears the hoodie.


	7. Chapter 7: Baking Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco finds out a surprising fact about Tom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL I'VE CAUGHT UP WITH MYSELF which means i haven't written anything past this yet! Normally i write a solid 3 chapters ahead of what i post so i can keep a daily schedule but life is B U S Y so i've actually caught up with myself!!! But i'm going to write more literally write now (listening to romantic music too haha) so unless i have to suddenly stop, things should stay on schedule!!! :D so thanks for staying with me thus far guys with my wild life haha. Plus, I love all your comments!!!! so kind so sweet

 

            “So, wait, you’re saying you’ve _never_ cooked something before?” Marco asked Tom over the mirror, making a shocked, incredulous expression.

            “I’ve poured cereal,” Tom replied, sheepishly.

            “Oh my gosh,” Marco laughed with a sigh, “That’s crazy that you’ve never cooked anything.”

            “Do most humans cook their own food regularly?” Tom asked, equally surprised. Marco should have seen this coming. Tom was pretty high ranking, also had _magic_ , and the only other person he dated was Star, a literal princess who could have people _blink_ for her.

            “Well, adults do, yeah. Most of the time parents cook for their kids, and mine do a lot too. But I actually like cooking a lot, so when my parents are busy, I cook.” Marco explained.

            “I see…” Tom said, kind of quiet. Tom had to admit, that was pretty impressive. At least to him.

            “I can teach you how to cook if you ever want to learn,” Marco offered.

            “Really?” Tom asked, honored.

            “Yeah, sure. I’m free today if you wanted to come over. We could make…” Marco paused, listing ingredients quietly, “uh… no, we don’t have enough cheese… Oh! We could bake a cake! I have this cake mix, so we don’t even have to make the batter or anything.”

            “I’d love to!” Tom grinned.

            For the majority of his life, Tom had food simply given to him. Other times, he just made it with magic. If he got hungry, he could just magic up a bowl of chips.

            And soon enough, Tom was there in Marco’s kitchen.

            “Okay, so making a cake is really easy,” Marco said, clearly noticing Tom’s worry. Which was well deserved, since he’s never cooked in his life!!!

            “First, we get the bowls and stuff,” Marco continued, grabbing some bowls, a measuring cup, and a stand-mixer, “Then we read all the instructions on this cake box, then just do all that stuff.”

            Tom nodded. Seems simple enough. Tom can follow written instructions.

            “So first, we preheat the oven- I’ll do that,” Marco said, pressing some buttons on that human heating machine.

            “Can you read the next step, Tom?” Marco asked as he turned a nob on the oven.

            Tom picked up the box and read the back.

            “Um, mix in the cake mix, water, eggs, butter, and oil in a bowl.” Tom read.

            “Alright, well we have the cake mix already, so let’s pour that in.” Marco said, cutting the small bag open and handing it to Tom.

            Tom blinked, then nodded as Marco pointed to the big silver bowl on the counter. Pouring. He can do that.

            With only a few puffs of mix falling outside the bowl, Tom succusfully poured the mix in.

            Marco measured the water and oil, and Tom poured that in as well.

            “Easy so far, right?” Marco laughed, nudging Tom’s arm.

            Tom laughed and nodded. Cooking wasn’t hard after all!

            “Now we need to crack three eggs, and pour them in, too.” Marco instructed, pulling out an egg carton from the fridge. He also pulled up a small bowl.

            “I’ll crack the first one, so watch carefully, okay?” Marco said, holding up the first egg.

            Tom watched closely as Marco cracked the egg against the side of the bowl, letting the yolk and the yellow fall into the bowl, then he threw away the shell. Marco poured the small egg bowl into the larger bowl, then placed it back on the counter.

            “Your turn!” Marco grinned, holding out an egg for Tom.

            Taking a small gulp, Tom reached forward, reeled his arm back…

            And completely destroyed the egg against the side of the bowl.

            “Okay…” Marco blinked, wiping egg chunks from his hand, “I’ll just crack the eggs.”

            “Sorry…” Tom mumbled, embarrassed, he used magic to quickly pile up all the destroyed egg bits and dump them into the trash, all the while avoiding looking at Marco.

            “Tom, are you okay?” Marco asked as he cracked another egg against the bowl like some _pro_.

            “Sorry I made a mess,” Tom admitted, scratching his neck.

            To be honest, the egg actually wasn’t the big problem. But, of course, it was the final blow. Tom was worried this would happen ahead of time…

            Marco was much more skilled than him.

            “Oh, that’s okay!” Marco laughed, as if nothing happened, “I used to make a mess with eggs all the time. Don’t worry about it, I’ve been cracking eggs for years.”

            Tom smiled sadly, glancing up to Marco.

            “Hey, Marco?”

            “Yeah?”

            “Do you think it’s bad that I can’t cook?”

            Tom was worried about the answer. Sure, to Tom, cooking had never been a big deal. People- or magic- made food for him, no biggie. But was it important to humans? Was it important to _Marco_?

            “Aw, Tom,” Marco said, pouring the third and final egg, and looking over to Tom, “No, it’s not bad. You’ve just never cooked before. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

            “Yeah?” Tom asked, trying not to sigh in relief too loudly.

            “Yeah,” Marco nodded, putting away the egg-bowl, “I’ve never used magic before, so if I ever tried, I’d be _way_ worse than just breaking an egg.”

            Marco laughed, clearly envisioning him using magic.

            “W-Well,” Tom began, trying to deny Marco’s claim, “Magic is hard! I’ve been using it for years, but I’m sure you’d be good if you had it.”

            “See, it’s the same thing with cooking!” Marco retorted with a smile, “All you have to do is practice, and you’ll get better!”

            Tom nodded, thinking about it. Marco was right, it was almost the exact same principle…

            “Now, if this stupid mixing machine would actually turn on…” Marco grumbled while Tom thought.

            “Well, looks like we’re just going to have to stir it ourselves,” Marco sighed, putting away the stand mixer.

            “Here, I’ll fix it-” Tom started, but was interrupted by Marco.

            “No, it’s okay!” Marco said, shaking his head, “I like stirring. Here, why don’t we let this be like your first ‘lesson’. Stir the bowl for, uh, three minutes!”

            “Heh, okay,” Tom said, holding the bowl with one hand, and getting the other hand ready to snap his fingers to magically stir the big spoon.

            “But no magic!” Marco finished, stopping Tom in his tracks with a knowing smile, “This is a homemade cake, 100 percent genuine!”

            Tom laughed and rolled his eyes in good humor.

            “Alright, Mr. Genuine,” Tom chuckled, picking up the spoon and manually stirring. It wasn’t actually a big deal, it’s not like Tom’s arms didn’t work. Maybe he _was_ getting too reliant on magic sometimes.

            So for the next three minutes, Tom stirred the bowl of cake mix. He and Marco talked the whole time, about mindless things. Favorite songs, which turned into favorite genres of things in general.

            “See, I get where you’re coming from,” Marco said as he turned off the timer, beeping for the three-minute mark, “But I really think romcoms deserve more appreciation. Just look at Pillow Talk! Unappreciated.”

            “Alright, whatever,” Tom shrugged, placing the bowl on the table. He had only seen a few romantic comedies, anyway, “So what’s next?”

            “Now, we bake it!” Marco grinned, grabbing some oven mits and opening the oven.

            “What are those for?” Tom asked, pointing to the oven mits.

            “Oh, it’s so when I put stuff in and out of the oven, I don’t burn my hands! Human’s aren’t that strong against warmth like you guys,” Marco answered with a laugh.

            Tom watched as Marco picked up the cake and slid it into the hot oven.

            Without thinking, Tom reached his hand over and touched the inside of the oven before Marco could close the door.

            “Dude!” Marco gasped, grabbing Tom’s arm.

            “Wow, humans must be really sensitive,” Tom laughed, letting Marco pull his arm back and close the oven.

            “Tom,” Marco laughed, “I can’t believe you just smacked the inside of an oven.”

            “Didn’t even leave a mark,” Tom grinned, holding up his hand as a trophy.

            “Yeah, well, if I did that, my fingers wouldn’t be usable for like a week.” Marco replied, shuddering at the thought.

            “For real?” Tom asked, surprised, “That sounds… scary.”

            Marco shrugged nonchalantly. Humans were _wild_.

            Tom started to worry as Marco set up the timer for 27 minutes. If humans got hurt from just a small touch of heat… What kind of damage could Tom do?! He’s spent extended periods of time in _lava_. He could produce heat and flames!!! And most of those flames were produced when he was emotional, and Marco just so happened to give Tom a lot of emotions.

            Maybe Tom should carry around a pair of oven mits, just in case…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay but the last little bit of this chapter reminds me of in AT when Flame Princess was dating Finn and Finn had to use oven mits to hold her hand


	8. Chapter 8: Sweet Cakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Marco get to eat the rewards of their hard work baking!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chap! But don't worry next chap is four pages long soooooo

 

            “Alright, Tom!” Marco grinned, handing Tom a plate with a small slice of finished cake, “Eat up!”

            Tom smiled, happily taking the plate. Marco sat next to him, and they both took the first bite together.

            “Oh, woah!” Tom gasped, “That’s really sweet!”

            “Hah, yeah, the icing is basically liquid sugar or something,” Marco laughed, taking another bite.

            Tom smiled, not at all minding the over-saturated taste. Normally, he wasn’t a big fan of too sweet things. He liked small candies and ice cream, but he never really liked things that were just pure sugar.

            This, however, was a very different experience.

            Tom _loved_ it.

            And how could he not?! Not only was it the first thing he’s ever cooked, but he cooked it with Marco! Turns out, doing simple things was incredibly more enjoyable when one was with friends

            “Do you like it?” Marco asked, already finished with half of his.

            “Yeah!” Tom nodded quickly, “It’s really good.”

            “I could always cook more stuff for you, if you’d like?” Marco offered.

            “Wait, really?” Tom asked, surprised. From his first experience, cooking seemed to be quite difficult.

            “Yeah, sure,” Marco nodded, “I cook lunch for Star half of the time, anyway. What kind of food do you like?”

            “Um… I’m not too picky, it’s whatever’s easier…” Tom answered, still not wanting to trouble Marco. It was so kind, but he didn’t want to put Marco in a tight spot.

            “Don’t worry, Tom,” Marco chuckled, reading Tom’s mind, “I really don’t mind it. It’s something, er-”

            Marco paused, glancing down while he finished.

            “-It’s something boyfriends do…”

            Tom flushed, staring at his cake, shyly. Actually, he noticed that the icing was staring to melt from its side due to his embarrassment. Even though Tom was _well aware_ that they were boyfriends, having it said out loud felt like a whole new experience. Like, verbally addressing it. Out loud. With words.

            “Well, I guess if… if my b-boyfriend wouldn’t mind…” Tom said, holding back a giddy smile, adjusting his grip on the plate. The cake was probably completely re-heated at this point, as the icing was all a pool at the bottom.

            Both boys were left with two shy smiles, happily enjoying the affections. 

            Tom would love getting used to this…


	9. Chapter 9: The First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Marco go on their first Official date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is 1988 words long. i know some people who were born in the year 1988. weird.   
> anyway heres dem bois

 

            [ _so I realized we haven’t really had, like, a DATE? Like did the cake count?]_

Tom smiled at his mirror, laughing a little at Marco’s text.

            [ _Let’s try a real date this time. Are you free tomorrow afternoon?]_

Tom absentmindedly noted that talking was way easier when you typed stuff out.

            _[Yeah! Do you want to go somewhere?]_

_[How about I take you somewhere in my realm? We’ve done a lot of earth stuff lately]_

_[Oh, yeah totally! Hah, sorry about shoving earth in your face]_

Oh, Marco, always so considerate.

            _[No, no, it’s fine! I like earth. But I just want to show you some of my dimension’s stuff, too.]_

Tom and Marco set up a time for Tom to pick up Marco, and Tom would decide all the rest. He was, after all, the one from this dimension.

            Tom spent the rest of the day planning for their first _official_ date. Although, Tom did kind of count the cake as a date, but this was _official_. Like, with a title.

            The day passed quickly, and Tom soon showed up in front of the Diaz residence with a flaming carriage.

            “Hey, Tom!” Marco called, heading out the door before Tom could even go up and knock. He was wearing his hoodie, but with his hair neat and nice black jeans.

            “Are you ready?” Tom asked, allowing Marco into the carriage quickly. Tom himself was wearing a long sleeved shirt similar to his regular one, with jeans as well.

            “Yep!” Marco said, going to sit on the couch inside the oddly large interior.

            As the carriage started to move, Tom sat next to Marco.

            “Well, I hope you’re hungry, since I made reservations at a restaurant, but if you’re full we don’t have to go.” Tom said, worried about his plans.

            “I could eat,” Marco answered, calmly, “What kind of restaurant is it?”

            “Well,” Tom started proudly, “This restaurant is known for its remarkable meats selection! And scenery, too.”

            “Oh, cool!” Marco smiled, “I’m excited.”

            Tom smiled back, happy to see Marco excited. For as much as he liked some earth things with Marco, he was really proud of his own dimension as well. He was excited to finally share that with Marco!

            And Brian had actually talked to him about stuff like this recently, too. When he was with Star, especially for the Blood Moon Ball, he had dulled down his own culture so much, just for her. But he shouldn’t be ashamed of his heritage! He can share it with Marco, while still experiencing Marco’s as well! Brian said he should try for an even trade of cultures, or at least close to it. It was healthy that way! Tom had actually learned some about Brian’s dimension, too- for some reason Marco thought Brian was a human from the earth dimension, but he’s actually not. He’s actually just similar to humans.

            _Anyway_ , the carriage soon arrived back in Tom’s dimension.

            Tom glanced out the window, then stood up and held his hand out for Marco.

            “We’re here,” Tom said, grinning ear to ear. He was so excited for this date! It was going to be great!

            Tom took Marco inside the restaurant, and Marco gasped almost immediately.

            Tom smiled proudly, taking in the scenery before him. There were several tables and chairs, like a regular human restaurant. But that was about it that it had in common with an earth restaurant. The walls, which carried on to the ceiling, was made of a giant shell. The closest thing Tom could compare it too was a super-sized chambered nautilus. On the walls, there were several mounts with different corpses. The lighting was provided from wax candles from the ceiling, which gave the whole restaurant an ominous feeling. It was Tom’s favorite restaurant!

            “We have a reservation under ‘Tom’,” Tom said, walking forward with the flabbergasted Marco, who was still looking around.

            “Your seat’s over here,” The hostess, a small and stout pink demon, lead the way blandly.

            As they walked to the seat, Tom watched Marco stare, wide-eyed, at the corpses on the walls.

            When they sat down, Marco finally blinked and gulped, starting to finally speak.

            “So, uh, w-where’s the menu?” Marco asked, scratching his neck.

            “Oh, right,” Tom chuckled, gesturing towards the walls, “This is the menu. It’s all caught within a few hours! It’s the freshest meat available! But don’t worry, they have a few other dishes if you don’t like any of those.”

            “Wait, so that stuff’s the meals?!” Marco asked, his voice squeaking, staring once again at the mounted up animals.

            Tom nodded, and they both watched as a waitress pulled of a deer-like animal and brought it to a giant fire in the center to roast it to the customers wishes.

            “Oh…” Marco whispered, his face whitening.

            “I-Is something wrong?!” Tom asked, suddenly worried. This wasn’t too much, right? It was one of the best restaurants in the entire dimension!

            “N-No, it’s fine, it’s just, uh…” Marco mumbled, looking down at his lap, “I’m not used to seeing my meals with their skin attached, and all…”   

            “Oh.” Tom said, nodding. He felt his fist balling slightly, but shoved down his frustration quickly.

            “B-But don’t worry!” Tom said, quickly, avoiding his feelings, “The taste will make up for it!”

            Soon, the waitress came their way. 

            “Take your pick, boys,” She said, waving towards the walls, “We also have shelled pasta and breadsticks.”

            “I’ll have that one, right there,” Tom ordered, pointing to an animal near the door, “and a water, please.”

            “And you?” The waitress asked Marco.

            “Um… Can I just have the pasta? And water, too.”

            Tom blinked. Did he not like meat? That’s definitely not the case, since he had seen Marco shove down a big steak before, as well as other meat-related meals.

            The waitress glanced at Marco for a moment, then nodded.

            “I’ll be right back with your orders.” She said, walking off.

            “Marco, is something wrong?” Tom asked, again. Why didn’t he want their award winning meats?

            “N-No!” Marco said, shaking his head, “I’m just, uh, not hungry enough for a meal that big! The pasta should fill me up just fine! I just don’t want to waste any food, that’s all!”

            “Oh, well we could split mine, if you want some.” Tom offered, still worried.

            “No thank you, but thank you.” Marco replied, with a nervous smile.

            Tom nodded slowly, taking a breath. That was frustrating.

            No, no, not frustrating. It was, uh… troubling? Yeah, troubling. Not frustrating or anything that could cause anger!!! Tom had been doing way too well lately to get angry.

            Tom noticed Marco making a point to stare out the window as their waitress pulled off their meal from the wall.

            Pretty soon, the waitress returned to their table, with two glasses of water. She also pulled up a large platter of freshly grilled meat, and a bowl of shelled pasta.

            Marco blinked at the pasta, and Tom realized it wasn’t exactly like the earth version of pasta. In his dimension, ‘shelled pasta’ is a snail-like creature, with their shells removed and skins peeled. It was a really nice meal, especially with hot sauce. But still, it wasn’t earth pasta like Marco probably expected.

            They thanked the waitress, and started their meals. Or, rather, Tom started his meal, while Marco pushed around his pasta with a fork.

            “Marco…” Tom mumbled, placing down his own silverware.

            “S-Sorry,” Marco chuckled nervously, “Just some culture shock, y’know? Sorry.”

            Tom remained quiet as he watched Marco try to stomach a few strings of his pasta. He was clearly struggling.

            Tom sighed, pulling the bowl towards himself.

            “You don’t have to eat it.” Tom said, staring at the bowl, away from Marco.

            “I’ll eat it,” Marco said, trying to pull the bowl back weakly. His voice was more nervously apologetic than genuine.

            “No, it’s fine,” Tom shrugged slightly, snapping his fingers and giving Marco a small bowl of nachos in its place, “I want you to enjoy it.”

            Marco was quiet, but nodded after a moment and began eating his nachos. Tom was silent through most of his meal, only speaking up to ask the waiter for more water.

            As they ate, and the pasta started to get soggy, Tom felt his blood warm up. He had put a lot of effort into squeezing in their reservation so soon, and this was easily his favorite restaurant, too. He felt his grip on his fork tighten as he continued to eat, but he tried so hard to ignore it. He tried to make some weak excuse, but it didn’t work too well. He knew this feeling, so the only thing he could do was shove it down as best as he could.

            _Ignore it_ , he ordered himself, swallowing his food, _Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it._

Eventually, they finished their meals, and the waitress came to pick up their plates. She seemed annoyed at the almost full bowl of pasta, but didn’t say anything. Tom payed the bill quickly, and they walked out.

            “Um, Tom, I’m really-” Marco started, scratching his arm.

            “How about we take a walk?” Tom interrupted. If he didn’t talk about it, he could ignore it faster. And going on a walk would distract him even more. So he would act chipper and fine, and hopefully that will work.

            “…Sure,” Marco nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets.

            They walked around aimlessly, not really heading to any destination in particular. Tom had really hoped that the dinner would have gone better, so he had honestly planned on playing it by ear after the dinner.

            After a short while, Tom noticed Marco fanning himself and wiping his forehead.

            “Are you okay?” Tom asked, slowing down.

            “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” Marco reassured, a little too quickly. As he spoke, he started to pull off his hoodie, “It’s just warm.”

            “Do you need a drink?” Tom offered, worried.

            “No, I’m fine, really!” Marco said, this time a little more genuine. He tied his hoodie around his waist, with a small smile.

            Tom nodded, but started leading their walk back to the carriage.

            “Sorry you didn’t enjoy it,” Tom mumbled, staring at the ground. He was definitely getting frustrated at this point, but was still trying to put Marco first.

            “Tom, I said I’m fine,” Marco replied, a little snappy himself.

            “Well, you didn’t _seem_ fine when we ate,” Tom retorted, starting to get snappy himself.

            “I didn’t expect to see my lunch on a wall,” Marco said, defending himself, “You can’t blame me!”

            “It’s not like I’ve been spending all my time on earth…” Tom mumbled under his breath, balling his fists tightly.

            “Look, sometimes your dimension’s things are just a little extreme, okay?” Marco said, sighing loudly.

            The carriage was in sight now.

            “Well so is yours, making me wait outside by a door,” Tom shot back, feeling his fingertips start to light up.

            “How is knocking on a door like seeing _dead animals_ picked off a wall and eaten?!” Marco asked, now completely argumentative.

            “Because it’s _different_!” Tom shot back, his voice rising, “Your earth stuff is new to me, but at least I’m _trying_!”

            Tom felt his eyes start to turn red.

            “So am I!” Marco said, “Just try to go a little slower next time!”

            “How am I supposed to know what to do!” Tom shouted, feeling flames rise around his feet, “You’re acting just like Star was! I can hardly even _be a demon_ without being criticized!”

            Marco blinked, still making an angry expression, but finally silenced.

            Tom started to breath heavy, with his anger, but was able to stop the flames at least.

            “I’m going to go home,” Marco said shortly, staring at the carriage door, “Thanks for the food.”

            And with that, Marco went into the carriage, and left. Tom was left down in his dimension, blood still boiling.  


	10. Chapter 10: Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a huge fight over some cultural differences, Tom and Marco finally talk it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: posts several fluffy happy chapters but gets small (albeit gREATLY APPRECIATED) comments.   
> also me: posts one angst chapter and gets A MILLION OF YALL BEING LIKE "YO WTF DRAGON" lmaooooooo thanks to everyone

 

            Tom lied on his bed, face shoved into a pillow. He had been groaning for a solid hour long.

            Yesterday was a _disaster_. He took Marco on their first real date, and it was awful. Nothing went right, the whole time.

            Tom tried not to think it, but his subconscious wouldn’t listen: it was all his fault.

            It was _Tom’s_ idea to try a demon dimension activity. It was _Tom’s_ idea to go to the restaurant. It was _Tom_ who got angry first. It was _Tom_ who caused their first date to be ruined.

            It was _Tom’s_ fault that Marco might not want to go on another date with him ever again.

            When he got home from the disaster date, he let out the rest of his anger in one huge shout, and passed out.

            And now, there he was, laying face first on his bed. Whining and groaning, blaming himself for everything.

            Brian was wrong.

            Being a demon _was_ something to be ashamed of.

            Star thought his demon traditions were disgusting. Marco was a close friend of Star. Friends had things in common. So of _course_ Marco would be disgusted, too. He should have seen it coming. He shouldn’t have offered to have the date in his dimension at all. He should have just done some other human thing. Sure, it was weird for him, but so what? Having a weird moment or two is better than _ruining_ a whole date!

            _Squeak squeak!!!_

Tom glanced up, realizing that his lovely rabbit- and also zombie guinea pig- were panicking since Tom just set his pillow on fire.

            “Sorry, buddy,” Tom mumbled, patting down the fire. The bunny calmed down pretty quickly, and Tom picked it up. He sat back on his bed, with his bunny on his lap.

            “It must be easy, being a bunny,” Tom laughed sadly, “No worries, no stress. You don’t even have to worry about dating. You just sit around and eat carrots and lettuce.”

            _Squeak!_

            “Maybe I should run away and live the rest of my life as a rabbit.” Tom said, jokingly. As if his bunny could even understand him, anyway.

            Suddenly, Tom got a text on his mirror, causing his rabbit to jump in his lap. Tom patted its head, calming it down, before reaching for his mirror.

            “Don’t worry, little buddy,” Tom comforted, his voice still low from sadness.

            He looked at the messenger’s name on his mirror.

            _Message from Marco: Hey-_

Tom paused reading, taking a deep breath. Oh boy, here we go.

            Tom felt a slight déjà vu, remembering when he thought Marco was going to call him in anger after ruining the ball. But this time, there wasn’t the surprise ‘you didn’t ruin it after all!’ effect. At least with the dance, Star was there to add magic jello and sparkles to fix Tom’s mistakes. But Star wasn’t on their date. There was no magic jello or sparkles or rainbows or anything. Just Tom’s mistake after mistake.

            Tom felt a tear rise up, caused by a mixture of anger and sadness. But he forced it down, so he could actually read his message.

            _[Hey, Tom, it’s me. I was hoping we could talk, can you call me?]_

Tom sighed. He really didn’t want to talk about it right now. In fact, he didn’t want to talk to anyone about anything at the moment. All he wanted to do was shove his face into a pillow, forget everything, and pet his bunny. That’s all he wanted. But he respected Marco’s wishes, so he called.

            _Riiing… Riiing… Rii-_

“Hello?” Marco said, looking down at his mirror, trying to make sure he answered properly.

            “Hey.” Tom said, resituating, allowing his bunny to roam free on his large bed while he sat criss-crossed.

            “Oh, hey, Tom,” Marco started, clearly a little nervous or uncomfortable, “Thanks for calling.”

            “Um, yeah…” Tom mumbled, scratching his arm. This time, he wasn’t expecting Marco to yell or shout at him or anything, at least at the beginning.

            “So, I wanted to talk about yesterday,” Marco said, visibly working up some nerve to speak, “About the date, and all.”

            “I’m really sorry about-” Tom started, ready to pour out his apologies, but Marco stopped him.

            “No, I’m sorry.” Marco interrupted, “I was… a jerk.”

            “No, no, you weren’t!” Tom said, “I’m an idiot, I shouldn’t have brought you there, or done anything with the-the restaurant, or with-”

            “Tom…” Marco sighed, looking almost depressed, “It’s not your fault.”

            “Huh?” Tom asked, surprised from the second interruption of the call.

            “It’s just… I think I was surprised, and I was really warm, so I got kind of uncomfortable, but like, not because of you or anything… It’s just… I guess I’m still not used to other dimensions’ cultures and stuff… I’m still getting used to some Mewni stuff, and Star’s been living here for a _while_ now. I acted like a real jerk, and I’m really sorry…”

            “But,” Tom stuttered, “M-My culture made you really uncomfortable, I should have thought about that!”

            “No, you shouldn’t have!” Marco denied, “You shouldn’t have to hide your culture! I was just surprised, an-and then it was really hot, so I got kind of overheated, which made me really snappy, and… and you shouldn’t have to change who you are, for me. I don’t want you to do that, at all! And I’m really sorry about how I acted.”

            Tom blinked, surprised.

            _‘You shouldn’t have to change who you are for me_ ’, Tom’s mind echoed. For most of his life, Tom was actively trying to change himself. When he grew up, he tried to act more royal or superior than other kids that were actually his equal. When he dated Star, he tried to hold back his culture’s extremes for her. After they broke up, he tried especially hard to maintain his anger. He tried to fundamentally change who he was, for her. And while the anger thing was pretty beneficial, and he actually wants to keep anger-management now, it was started for someone else. And this time, he was ready to never invite Marco back to his dimension, again. He was just going to have to assimilate into human life.

            He was just going to have to change who he was for Marco, if that’s what Marco wanted.

            But that’s the exact _opposite_ of what Marco wanted.

            “R-Really…?” Tom asked, trying to process the whole thing.

            “Really, I mean it,” Marco nodded, “I’ve been shoving earth in your face, and I’m sorry for being a jerk to your culture. I promise, I’ll do better next time! I-If you wanted a next time…”

            Marco mumbled that last bit, embarrassed.

            “I do!” Tom said, instinctively, almost that if he didn’t, Marco wouldn’t want to anymore.

            “But,” Tom said, speaking normally, “I’m sorry too. I got angry, and I’m not supposed to do that!”

            “Well, I mean,” Marco shrugged, trying to find the words, “You weren’t really in the wrong, though. Like, you had a right to be angry, I was a jerk. You’re allowed to get angry sometimes, remember.”

            Tom nodded, slowly, still processing.

            Not only did Marco not want Tom to hide his culture, but he was also allowing him to get angry?! Tom knew Marco had promised to help when he got angry, but still, it was still such a shock.

            “Um… Do you think we can try again?” Marco asked, shyly, “Maybe we could try something smaller, first, though. How about you teach me about some of your dimension’s culture, like show me around or something? That way, I’ll know what to expect, next time!”

            Tom couldn’t help but start smiling.

            They both made mistakes, and they both apologized. Marco wanted Tom for who Tom was, demon and all.

            “Yeah, that’d be great,” Tom replied, not even realizing his own tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want to point out that sometimes in life, neither one of yall is in the right, especially in relationships. Sometimes you both did the wrong thing, but talking it out and apologizing goes a LONG way.


	11. Chapter 11: First Date, Take Two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Marco spend some time in Tom's dimension, but this time with clear heads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo yo i'd like to thank all yall who commented with things such as "THAT HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP THO" and I'm SUPER GLAD!! bc yeah man! I've been with a whole BUNCH of people from different cultures and sometimes it's tricky, but in the long run its way better to just admit you were wrong/arrogant/whatever and learn from the experience! Sometimes even apologizing is hard among cultures (so i actually have a story of how i made a fool of myself apologzing to my Japanese friend), but man working through problems IS HEALTHY AND WORTH IT

 

            “So how about we take turns?” Marco offered, walking hand-in-hand with Tom through Tom’s dimension, “That way, we spend some time on earth, and some time here.”

            “That sounds good. I don’t mind spending time on earth, though,” Tom said. Earth was pretty simple, and wasn’t as drastic as Tom’s dimension.

            “Well, either way, we should still spend time here.” Marco shrugged, looking around. This time, he was wearing shorts and a tank top, so he was much less susceptible to getting overheated, like last time. Tom was obviously unaffected by the heat, so he just wore his normal clothes.

            They weren’t going to any destination in particular, just walking around. That way, Marco had a slower, easier introduction. Marco did seem interested in demon culture, however. This time there wasn’t any sudden surprises, so it was a much better learning environment.

            “Um…” Tom mumbled, gulping slightly, “Do you like it here?”       

            “Yeah!” Marco nodded, giving Tom a genuine smile, “It’s really nice here!”

            “I’m glad you like it” Tom smiled, “It’s nice to be able to share it with someone.”

            Tom noticed some emotion run across Marco’s eyes, but it left as soon as it came, so Tom ignored it.

            “There’s a lot of different types of people here,” Marco said, looking at the crowds of citizens. It was true, earth’s population was extremely similar in comparison to Tom’s.

            “Hah, yeah, there’s a bunch of types of demons,” Tom nodded, “But for the most part, they’re all two arms and two legs.”

            They kept walking, until they found a bench to rest at.       

            “Are you sure you aren’t too warm?” Tom asked as they sat down.

            “I’m fine, I even brought some water, too,” Marco answered, pulling out a water bottle from his small bag.

            “Thanks for showing me around, Tom,” Marco said after drinking a little bit.

            “Of course!” Tom nodded quickly, “Thanks for coming…”

            Marco smiled, and leaned his head against Tom’s shoulder.

            Tom grinned, wringing his fingers together to calm down. Getting affection from Marco was still… new territory, or something. But Tom wasn’t complaining.

            They sat together, in comfortable silence, leaning against one another. Tom slowly rested his own head above Marco’s, careful not to hit Marco with his horns.

            “Your hands are really smooth,” Tom noticed as Marco held his hand.

            “That’s just the sweat.”

            Tom really tried not to laugh that hard, but he couldn’t help it. The way Marco just _deadpanned_ that, in the middle of a perfectly romantic moment, was just too much.

            “ _Pffft-!”_ Tom laughed, reaching forward to jokingly push Marco off him, “Heh, th-that’s nasty! Haha!”

            “Hey man!” Marco laughed, holding up his hands in innocence, “It’s not my fault its warm here!”

            “Why would you hold my hand if yours is so sweaty!?!” Tom shouted, still laughing through his words.

            “I’m allowed to hold my boyfriend’s hand!” Marco huffed, feigning a pout and crossing his arms.

            The humor, along with being called ‘my boyfriend’ so casually, just kept Tom laughing.

            “Alright, alright,” Tom chuckled, finally quieting his laughter, “Fine. You can hold my hand. I guess I can’t deprive you of that.”

            With a dramatic gesture, Tom held his hand out for Marco, who laughed at his joking overconfidence.

            “Oh, how thoughtful,” Marco added, going along with the theatricals.

            Tom grinned, looking Marco in the eye as they held hands, and felt another rush of affection burst through his chest. After everything that has happened between them, they still can have a simple, innocent moment of jokes. Just pure ‘messing around’, laughing together, and enjoying their presence together.

            “Thank you,” Marco said, his voice back to normal.

            As Tom opened his mouth to say some silly reply, Marco reached forward, giving Tom a quick, half-second kiss. It was incredibly short, so Tom had hardly a heartbeat to realize what was happening before Marco leaned back to his original spot, eyes averted and cheeks red.

            “… Y-Yeah…” Tom fumbled, still registering the sudden kiss.

            Marco finally looked back up, giggling quietly when he saw Tom’s idiotic ‘surprised’ face.

            “Don’t worry,” Marco joked, lightly leaning into Tom’s shoulder with his own, “My lips aren’t sweaty.”

            Tom took a moment, then laughed with him.

            Was Marco always this silly? Was he always this _enjoyable_?!

            “I’ll be the judge of that!” Tom grinned, and summoned up all the confidence he could muster.

            He gently tilted Marco’s face to point towards his own, leaned in…

            And kissed, again.

            This time, much longer than a split-second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok but heres the real question: is tom's dimension ever given an explicit name in canon? I've seen fanfics call it Hell, Underworld, ect. but is there like an ACTUAL name for his dimension???? if not i'm prob gonna go with Underworld Dimension


	12. Chapter 12: Hangin' Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Marco watch some TV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short but sweet

 

            “So remember when we played ping-pong that time?” Marco asked, as he and Tom sat on Marco’s couch, watching TV.

            “Which time? Stealing-for-torture time or Extreme-Ping-Pong time?” Tom laughed.

            “Both, actually. But anyway, do you, like, have an advantage since you have an extra eye?” Marco asked, glancing over to Tom.

            “What do you mean?” Tom asked.

            “Well, one of the humans in my class is blind in one eye, so sports are harder for her. Like, she doesn’t have depth perception. So do you have _extra_ depth perception?”

            “Oh, well,” Tom said, thinking about it, “I guess? I never really played ping-pong without using my eyes, but probably. My third eye doesn’t really have any special powers or anything, if that’s what you mean.”

            “No, nothing like that,” Marco said, shaking his head, “Just an advantage, I guess. Can you move it by itself?”

            “Yes, actually!” Tom grinned, turning to fully face Marco, “Watch!”

            Slowly, Tom turned his inner two eyes to look down at his shoes and let his third eye make eye-contact with Marco, separate from the inner two.

            “Woah!” Marco laughed, half-amazed, half-grossed out.

            “It hurts after a while, though,” Tom said, blinking and putting them all back together.

            “That’s so cool, though!” Marco said, still impressed, “So you could, like, read two books at the same time!”

            “Hah, no way!” Tom laughed, “I pretty much can only focus through one set at a time, there’s no way I’d be able to focus on two separate books, let alone _understand_ them.”

            “Aw that’d be super cool,” Marco whined, focusing back to the TV.

            “I think it’s neat that humans don’t have horns, if that makes us even,” Tom said with a chuckle, watching TV as well.

            “Really? Aren’t horns the cooler thing than _not_ having horns?”

            “No way, they’re super annoying. Most of my shirts have to be really stretchy and loose, or else they’ll rip when I put them on. Plus, I get stuck in a bunch of doors in other dimensions.” Tom explained, rubbing one of his horns as he remembered how often they were hit.

            “Like the Pixie dimension?”

            “Oh I _hate_ the Pixie dimension!” Tom groaned loudly.

            “Me too!” Marco laughed, pointing to himself quickly in emphasis.

            “Really?” Tom asked, surprised, “Why would you hate it?”

            “Well, it’s more of a long story, not just ‘hitting my horns on the door’ like yours.” Marco laughed, shrugging it off.

            “So, by the way,” Marco continued, glancing up at Tom’s horns, “Can you feel with them? If someone hit your horns, it would hurt, right? Or can you just not feel anything?”

            “Oh, yeah, I can feel out of it. So don’t hit it,” Tom chuckled, swatting away Marco’s hand as it reached for his horn.

            “I wasn’t going to!” Marco said, sticking out his tongue, “Weirdo.”

            “Well you’re a weirdo, too,” Tom added, sticking his tongue right back like a mature adult.

            Marco started to giggle, which set of another eruption of laughter from the two of them.

            “We’re _both_ weird, then.” Marco said decisively.

            “You’re weirder,” Tom teased.

            They were weird, sure, but weird and happy.


	13. Chapter 13: Fair Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco invites Tom to a fair!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL i love u all. i might not be able to update tomorrow but ill try. so uh sorry ily yall

 

            “You’re telling me you’ve _never_ been to a fair before?!” Marco screamed over the mirror.

            “I’ve _never_ been to a fair before,” Tom nodded with a chuckle. Marco was so over-dramatic sometimes, “Are they fun?”

            “They’re super fun!” Marco nodded, “They’re not really the safest though, so I don’t go on all the crazy rides… If I can hear the machine squeaking, I won’t ride it, that’s my rule.”

            “Sounds reasonable,” Tom said, rolling his eyes at Marco’s ‘safety-ness’.

            “But you should totally come to the one this weekend! It’s a lot of fun, really!” Marco said, back to enthusiastic again.

            “Are you sure? It sounds kind of crowded and loud, and those are two things I don’t really like…” Tom said, a little nervous.

            _Or rather_ , he thought, _that don’t really like ME._

While he was working hard to control his anger, loud and crowded events weren’t exactly easy to handle.

            “If we go earlier it should be okay,” Marco explained, “It only gets really crowded at night. Plus, it’s really open, so the loud music isn’t as big of a deal.”

            Tom bit his lip, thinking it over. It really did sound fun, but it also sounded risky. But, then again, if what Marco was saying was true, it might be really good! He could go out of his comfort-zone in terms of anger-management, and still be relatively safe!

            “Alright, I’ll go,” Tom nodded, “But not at night.”

            “Sweet! I don’t like going at night anyway,” Marco grinned, “Why don’t you come to my house around five, and we go together.”

            Tom nodded, and the call ended. There was only two days before the fair, so it wasn’t too far away. Thankfully, it wasn’t some anxiety-blasting wait like for the school dance. It seemed exciting!

            The day of the fair rolled around, and Tom was thoroughly prepared.

            He learned that on earth, once the sun went down, the temperature lowered drastically. Unlike in his dimension, where the temperature was almost always constant. So Tom wore a simple long-sleeved black shirt with a _very familiar_ red hoodie over it. He wasn’t a big fan of the cold, after all. He also brought one of his little tiny stress balls that could fit in his hoodie pocket, in case he needed to give something a squeeze.

            Tom almost forgot about human rules in his excitement, but quickly reminded himself and appeared _outside_ Marco’s house and knocked on the door.

            Quickly, Marco’s father opened the door with a big grin.

            “Ah, Tom!” He greeted with his loud, booming voice. It was oddly comforting, though, since he just seemed really happy-loud, “It’s so nice to see you again!”

            “It’s nice to see you, Mr. Diaz,” Tom said, still remaining respectful as ever.

            “Oh, please,” Mr. Diaz laughed, “Call me Rafael!”

            “R-Really?!” Tom blinked, “Already?”

            “Of course silly!” He said, seemingly unaware that things might be _slightly different_ in Tom’s culture.

            “Oh, uh, s-sure…” Tom said, nodding slowly, “Mr.D- er, _Mr. Rafael._ ”

            “Close enough,” Rafael laughed, then turned to face the stairs, “Marco!!! Your nice boyfriend is here!”

            Tom shuffled in his spot, embarrassed with all the attention. Also, Tom made a quick little equation: He had never told Mr. Diaz he and Marco were dating, _and_ they never did anything ‘date-y’ in front of Marco’s parents. That meant that either Mr. Diaz was just very astute- which seemed highly unlikely- or Marco told his parents about Tom. It made Tom’s heart flutter slightly, even if it seemed like an obvious thing. Marco seemed very close, so of course he’d tell them, but still. The idea of being talked about in a _good way_ made Tom feel jittery inside.

            “Dad!” Marco’s muffled voice shouted from the second floor, “I’m coming…”

            “Thank you, Mr. Rafael,” Tom said, calming down back to normal.

            Within a few moments, Marco rushed down the stairs in simple jeans and a hoodie.

            Wait…

            That’s _Tom’s_ hoodie!

            “Oh, hey,” Marco mumbled, clearly noticing Tom’s hoodie as well, and Marco seemed to be holding back some laughter.

            “Hey,” Tom chuckled back, pulling his own hoodie down a little bit, self-consciously.

            “Well!” Rafael boomed, “You two better go before it closes!”

            “Dad, it’s going all night,” Marco laughed, but left nevertheless.

            “I have the carriage,” Tom mentioned, motioning to his carriage as they stepped out.

            They both waved goodbye to Mr. Diaz, and went into the carriage.

            “Sorry about my dad,” Marco mumbled, hiding his face in his hands as he sat down.

            “Don’t worry about it,” Tom said, sitting next to Marco, “But, I do have a question…”

            “Yeah?”

            “In human culture, is there any special meaning for when your father said I can call him by his first name?” Tom asked, nervously wringing his hands.

            “Oh, no,” Marco answered, waving his hand dismissively and breathing out with a huff, “He does that to all my friends, he’s way too affectionate sometimes… It’s so embarrassing.”

            “Oh, haha, no worries!” Tom said, acting like he was comforting Marco, as if his mind wasn’t racing.

            _Okay, no meaning, no meaning, no meaning_!

            Tom quickly told himself that over and over again, trying to calm down. See, in _his_ culture, it was _very different_.

            In Tom’s culture, when a father allows their child’s ‘romantic interest’ to call them by their first name, it’s only _after marriage_. So Tom had a reason to be just a little shocked.

            “So, are you excited for the fair?” Marco asked, back to normal.

            “Yep!” Tom nodded.

            “There’s a couple rides I want to try,” Marco said, “But nothing too big. I like this air-glider one, and there’s one that’s like a giant swing-set, and the Ferris Wheel is obviously required.”

            “Sounds fun.”

            “Oh, and we have to get some funnel cake, too!” Marco grinned, patting his stomach.

            Within a few minutes, they had reached the parking lot of the fair.

            “We’re here pretty early, so we should get a good spot!” Marco smiled, watching as they terrified traffic guides led the skeleton-horse to its parking spot.

            “So now we have to pay for our entrance, and any tickets we want. I think we should just get the all-pass bracelet but it’s up to you.” Marco said as they walked up.

            “I have no idea, Marco,” Tom laughed, “Why don’t you decide.”

            “Alright, we’ll get the all-passes!” Marco smiled, handing some money to the booth.

            “Oh, I’ll pay for mine,” Tom said, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet.

            “It’s okay, I’m already paying for it,” Marco said, shrugging.

            Tom grunted, but didn’t say anything. He’d just pay for anything they ate, to make it even.

            The two of them went in with fresh, all-pass bracelets.

            “Woah, it’s crazy here,” Tom gaped, looking around at all the big rides and bright lights.

            “Isn’t it amazing!” Marco smiled, taking Tom’s hand.

            “Come on, I’ll show you around!”


	14. Chapter 14: A Fun, Fun, Fair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Marco enjoy a fair together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so as a quick message before the fic: i've been getting a couple people messaging me on tumblr about the fic, which is great! but some of u guys are sending me a couple messages a day like "are u gonna update today?"/"update yet?"/ect ect. And while i'm super happy that yall enjoy my fic, pestering me and messaging me about the update schedule is the last thing that would encourage me to write faster or anything. So while i love getting encouraging messages about you guys enjoying the fic, please don't nag about updates. Thanks!   
> So enough of this PSA nonsense! Let's get on with the fic.

 

            “Oh man,” Tom grumbled, gripping the handlebars tightly, “This is weird.”

            “Don’t worry, it’s safe!” Marco said, “I checked. And it’s not fast, so don’t worry.”

            Tom nodded, still unsure. He was laying down on his stomach, laying on this tarp-like surface underneath what looked like a hang-glider.

            It didn’t seem safe, but if Mr. Safety himself said it was, Tom would believe him.

            The ride started, and the two of them started to ‘fly’ upwards and circle around the center of the machine. It moved faster and faster (although not as fast as some of those other rides looked), and Tom could feel the rush of wind in his face.

            While he started off scared, after a round or two around the center, he started to loosen up. It was actually kind of fun!

            After another few rounds, Tom glanced over to Marco. Marco had his eyes closed tight and arms outstretched. It was clearly he wanted to grin but didn’t open his mouth. The wind was pushing his hair back and blowing it around. He looked like he was flying… well, he kind of was?

            After the ride finished, the two of them went on a few other small ones like the hang-gliding one.

            Afterwards, they walked around a little, walking off some of the ride’s effects.

            “So you can win all those little toys, right?” Tom asked, pointing towards the piles of stuffed animals on the walls of all the game booths.

            “Yep! Each booth has a different game, too.” Marco answered.

            Tom nodded, uninterested in winning one of those silly human toys. They looked like they were made for small human children, anyway.

            That is, until Tom noticed a young man handing a large stuffed bear to the woman with him. She seemed so excited to be given that large child’s toy! Maybe it was a human courting ritual… Obviously gift-giving was a courting ritual among _every_ culture, but maybe children’s toys were a special thing during fairs.

            “Let’s try that one!” Tom said suddenly, pointing towards the booth with balloons tied to the back wall.

            “Okay!” Marco smiled, walking towards it, “That one’s really easy, I like it.”

            The Carnie told them the rules of the game: pay for darts, pop balloons, win prizes.

            “Five for five, seven for ten,” The Carnie said.

            Tom handed the man a ten-dollar bill, and picked up the handful of darts.

            Aiming carefully, Tom threw the first dart.

            _Pop!_

“Nice!” Marco smiled, patting Tom’s back lightly.

            Tom grinned and threw the next one.

            _Pop!_

_Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!_

“Woah, Tom!” Marco gasped with a grin, “You got all of them!”

            “I’m pretty impressive,” Tom smirked, wiping his hands together.

            “So all the prizes you can choose from are from here-” The Carnie explaining, pointing to a section of prizes, “To these.”

            “Wait,” Tom asked, “I can’t get one of the big ones?”

            “No, you have to get twenty or more to get the largest ones.”

            “Pssh, Tom, it’s fine,” Marco laughed, “Don’t waste your money. The smaller ones are nice!”

            Tom huffed, seeing a tiny puff of smoke being huffed out his nose as well.

            He slammed another ten on the table, ignoring the Carnie trying to hand him the change.

            And every balloon was popped, again.

            “Alrighty,” The Carnie chuckled, “Any prize.”

            “That one.” Tom ordered, pointing up to the largest red bear available.

            The Carnie pulled down the bear and handed it to Tom who took it proudly.

            “That was pretty impressive,” Marco smiled as the two walked off, “You hit every single one!”

            “I have a pretty good aim.” Tom chuckled, “Oh, this is for you.”

            “Huh?”

            Suddenly, Tom held out the bear for Marco.

            “For me?” Marco gasped, “But you earned it! You popped twenty balloons!”

            “But I want you to have it!” Tom said affectionately, “Do you not like it?”

            “No, no!” Marco answered quickly, “I love it! I just don’t want you to waste your money…”

            “It’s not a waste of money,” Tom said, “I wanted to win it for you.”

            “Thanks…” Marco smiled, taking the bear and hugging it tightly.

            As they walked around, Marco noticed another interesting booth.

            “Oh, I want to try this one!” Marco said, rushing over to it.

            The goal of this game was to throw small rings over glass bottles.

            “Looks tricky,” Tom chuckled, taking the bear back so Marco could free his hands.

            “It is…” Marco mumbled, paying for a few rings.

            They both quieted down, allowing Marco to focus.

            Unfortunately, Marco didn’t get any of them.

            “Sorry, boys,” The Carnie smiled, “You get a prize for trying, but if you want to try some more, only one ring to get any big prizes!”

            “I’ll try again,” Marco said, handing some more money.

            “Weren’t you just telling me not to waste money?” Tom laughed, but Marco seemed to ignore him.

            And just like the first time, all misses.

            “Man…” Marco sighed, dejected.

            “It looks really hard, Marco,” Tom comforted, trying to rest a hand on Marco’s back.

            “Wait, I want to try again,” He said, and Tom noticed a bit of desperation in his voice.   

            “You’re really determined,” The Carnie laughed, handing Marco another set of rings.

            Tom glanced nervously at Marco’s face. It was very determined, yes, but also a little angry. Tom knew that expression well.

            “Marco, we can try another game…” Tom mumbled.

            “Mhm.” Was all of Marco’s reply.

            Tom sighed, watching Marco try so hard, only to miss again.

            As the final ring fell to the ground, Tom watched Marco’s hands tighten.

            “Marco,” Tom said, finally asserting his voice, “Dude, the small ones are fine…”

            Marco grumbled something, but eventually sighed and nodded.

            “Can I have that?” Marco asked, pointing to a small stuffed fish.

            The two walked off, Tom still holding the large bear and Marco holding a dejected, tiny purple fish.

            “Are you okay?” Tom asked, worried.

            “Yeah,” Marco nodded, “Just frustrated.”

            “I think the fish is cute. Plus, that game is probably rigged.” Tom said.

            “Well, it’s just…” Marco sighed, “I really wanted to win you a nice prize, too.”

            “Oh?” Tom blinked, “Really?”

            “Well, you won me that great bear!” Marco said loudly, “All I got was this puny fish! I thought the ring toss would be easier…”

            “Hey,” Tom said, holding Marco’s shoulder and causing Marco to look up to him, “I really like the fish.”

            “You do?” Marco asked, incredulously.

            “Yeah!” Tom said, honestly, then his voice softened, “You won it for me, so of course I like it…”

            Although it was starting to get a little darker, Tom could tell Marco’s face was brightening a little.

            “I’m glad you like it,” Marco finally said, reaching over to hold Tom’s free hand.

            “C’mon,” Tom smiled, “Let’s go on that giant Ferris Wheel.”

            Marco smiled and joined Tom, walking to the Ferris Wheel. They traded their prizes, so Marco held his large red bear and Tom held his precious tiny fish.

            They both went on happily, but when they got to the top, it suddenly jolted to a stop.

            “Why did it stop?!” Tom asked, shocked.

            “Don’t worry!” Marco smiled, “Someone’s just getting on! It’s fun to stop at the top because you can see everything around you.”

            Tom looked over the edge, and realized Marco was right. The Ferris Wheel was in the far back of the fair, so it had a perfect view of all the lights and rides. It was beautiful!

            “Wow…” Tom whispered, in awe of the sights below him.

            “Hey, Tom,” Marco grinned, “Let’s take a selfie!”

            Tom laughed and nodded. The two of them scooted closer together, and Marco pulled out his phone. They both smiled at the camera, holding their gift prizes tightly. Their backs were to all the bright lights and rides, creating a colorful backdrop. They smiled with all their teeth, happy to just be with each other and enjoy this together.

            _Snap_!

            The picture was _perfect_.


	15. Chapter 15: Lunch Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco invites Tom to lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i forgot to say it yesterday but HAPPY HALLOWEEN

 

            _[hey tom my class is at lunch atm if ur free u could like teleport up here and have lunch with me.]_

_[be right there!]_

Tom grinned, grabbing some shoes and snapping himself right to the entrance of Marco’s school. Not to seem too eager, but spending time with Marco was easily a highlight of his day now.

            “Oh, hey!” Marco waved when he saw Tom, “That was quick!”

            “I told you I’d be right there,” Tom chuckled, sitting next to Marco, “So what’s up?”

            “Nothing,” Marco shrugged, “Alfonso’s sick today and Ferguson has lunch detention, so I figured I might as well see if you could join.”

            “And here I am,” Tom said with a grin.

            “Have you eaten lunch yet?” Marco asked.

            “No, I was going to in a little, though.”

            “Oh, dude!” Marco scolded, “you should eat! Well, you’re here now, so here-”

            Tom watched as Marco quickly grabbed a plastic bag from his lunch box and handed it to Tom.

            “Woah, no, I’m not taking your food,” Tom said assertively.

            “You’re not taking it from me, I’m _giving it_ to you.” Marco reminded with a smirk.

            “Marco…” Tom sighed.

            “It’s fine, Tom,” Marco said, “That’s not even my actual meal, just a snack. We can even share it if it makes you feel better.”

            “Thank you,” Tom chuckled, opening up the bag to see a bunch of cookies inside.

            “Did you make these?” Tom asked, already taking one.

            “Yep!”

            Tom grinned, taking his first bite.

            It was _delicious_.

            “Woah, Marco!” Tom gasped, “That’s super good!”

            “Aw, thanks Tom!” Marco blushed, taking one for himself, “I’m glad you like it.”

            Tom nodded, enjoying the rest of the cookie. It was amazing!

            Marco was amazing.

            He could cook, he was nice, patient, handsome; he was some awesome combination of good traits! Why did Tom hate him again?

            “I’m gonna do something super cheesy, so don’t laugh,” Marco said, giving Tom a warning glare.

            Tom nodded quickly, jokingly acting scared.

            Marco pointing a finger at Tom as a final, overdramatic warning, then relaxed back to normal. He took out a fork from his lunch box, stuck in into a grape in his little fruit bowl, and held it up.

            “Open up,” Marco said, holding the grape up for Tom.

            Tom caught on, and opened his mouth for Marco to feed him the grape. Tom blushed while he ate it, which turned the grape into a small fireball in his mouth.

            “Why were you so serious about that?” Tom smiled after swallowing it.

            “Well, y’know,” Marco shrugged, smiling shyly, “I’ve always seen those cheesy couples do it during lunch, so I guess I wanted to try it too…”

            Tom smiled as well, and both looked away from each other, embarrassed. They were both cheesy dorks, so doing anything romantic would definitely get their goat.

            Quickly, Tom glanced over to Marco, who was tearing off the crust of his sandwich slowly. Taking a chance, Tom leaned over to give Marco a quick peck on the cheek.

            “To-”

            “Hey!” A sudden booming voice interrupted them, causing them both to turn around quickly.

            It was some teacher, but she had… green skin? Tom vaguely recognized her from that one time Star called him and he saw that green-skinned teacher in the background.

            “No PDA! Or it’s detention for both of you!” She snapped loudly, glaring at Marco and then to Tom.

            They both nodded, scared by her sudden interruption and angry looks.

            “I don’t even go here…” Tom whispered.

            They couldn’t help breaking out in laughter after that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im gonna be real with yall: don't do PDA in the cafeteria its nasty we're trying to eat


	16. Chapter 16: The Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom enjoys looking through his memories, when suddenly something clicks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah!!! i finally broke that daily schedule. My school life is C R A Z Y. but u guys are super cool working with me love u (sorry this is short too)

 

            Tom grinned as he looked through his pictures with he and Marco. They were so beautiful, and each one made Tom smile more.

            From pictures way back when, back to the time Tom brought Love Sentence to Marco’s backyard. Then pictures of later in their relationship, when they were finally _dating_. While neither Tom nor Marco were huge photo-maniacs, they did have quite a few selfies together. There were even a few of the two of them kissing!

            Oh, kissing Marco was wonderful. Compared to demons, with almost entirely calloused skin, humans were very soft. Marco, especially, was soft. His hands were soft, which made them amazing to hold. His lips, too, were very soft. For as tough as Tom was, he did love soft things. Soft rabbits, soft couches, and soft boyfriends.

            And not only was Marco soft and nice to hold, but he was also a good _person_. He was kind and patient. He was special, because he was the first person to tell Tom he was _allowed_ to get angry. Marco wanted to help Tom when he’s angry, and help Tom manage his anger, but not get rid of it! Marco was someone who wanted to be with Tom, completely for Tom. And Tom wanted Marco, completely for Marco. Unlike his past mistakes with Star, Tom was going to actually acknowledge Marco’s flaws as well. Marco sometimes got carried away with his attempts to be safe, and he got snappy pretty often as well. He was a flawed human being. But at the same time, that actually made him even more likable. He seemed approachable.

            Tom sighed, happy to finally be in such a good situation.

            Heck, he was even eating homemade cookies from Marco!

            As he took the final bite of his cookie, Tom thought about his relationship with Marco some more.

            _Man_ , Tom thought, _Marco’s great. I love him…_

Suddenly, Tom choked on his cookie, coughing up tiny crumbs on his lap.

            “Oh no…” Tom mumbled, “I’m in love with Marco…”


	17. Chapter 17: Philosophy over Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom joins Marco, Alfonso, and Ferguson for school lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> W H A T? DRAMATICDRAGON ISN'T DEAD????  
> haaaaa,,, haa,,,,,ahha,,  
> sorry guys!!!! so i can actually explain! After halloween i got crazyy busy with work and school so i had MINIMUM free time to write, and then exams happened, and then i hit writers block, and then... well then i was just lazy. but i'm back!!! no guarateed schedule since y'all probably forgot about me haha.... sorry,,,

 

            “I’m telling you dude,” Ferguson said in a sing-song voice, “I’m in _looooove!_ ”

            “You are not in love,” Marco laughed, rolling his eyes good naturedly, “You just think she’s cute. I bet you only know her name because it’s on her nametag.”

             “Marco, Marco, Marco.” Ferguson ticked, “You have such little faith.”

            Suddenly, the school’s outdoor cafeteria had a small column of flames rise up, although no one even batted at eye. After Marco started officially dating Tom, he became a bit of a regular visit to school lunches.

            “Hey,” Tom greeted, sitting down next to Marco, “What’cha guys talking about?”

            “Ferguson thinks he’s in love with a girl he met once at a sandwich shop,” Marco sighed.

            “We’re meant to be together.” Ferguson nodded, but couldn’t hold back a tiny chuckle.

            “It’s funny,” Alfonso explained to Tom, “Because Marco gets all worked up every time Ferguson says he’s ‘in love’.”

            “Because he’s _‘in love’_ with every human with any moderate cooking skills! I’m surprised he hasn’t proposed to the lunch lady!”

            They all laughed uproariously at that one, then finally calmed back down.

            “Love is a very serious thing, _Ferguson_ ,” Marco scolded with a small laugh at their silliness.

            “Oh yeah?” Ferguson chuckled.

            Tom was already halfway through his sandwich, but slowed down a little, suddenly focusing on what Marco had to say.

            “Love is lifelong, Ferg, not just until the next person brings you more food.” Marco explained in his Brainiac voice. Everyone could tell it was all in good fun, but there was still a hint of seriousness in Marco’s joking.

            “But life is too long!” Ferguson whined, resting his chin on the table.

            “Not when you love someone, idiot,” Marco laughed, shoving some more cookies in his mouth, “When you _love_ someone, life isn’t long enough.”

            “What are you, some English poet?” Alfonso laughed, waving his hand for dramatic flair.

            “I’m just- I take it seriously!” Marco huffed, cheeks reddening a little at Alfonso’s teasing.

            “Love seems pretty serious to you, huh.” Tom said, taking a break from eating.

            “It might just be because my parents used to drill it into my head when I was younger, but I think love is very important and lifelong. Like, a crush is one thing, but if you love someone then its forever! Even if stuff sucks sometimes! It’s, like, _a promise!”_

Tom felt his face warm up slightly hearing Marco talk so passionately about love, especially considering it was just two _days ago_ that Tom realized he was in love with Marco. He obviously hadn’t said anything yet, since he worried how Marco would take it. He learned his lesson from Star: Being too possessive too quick is no good.

            Suddenly, Ferguson got a jokester look in his eye.

            “Y’knoooooow,” He said, twirling a chip in his hand, “I never heard you rant about this stuff when you liked _Jackie_ … I wooonder…”

            Marco quickly threw a chunk of a cookie at him to shut him up, but it didn’t work.

            “I wonder if there’s a reeeeaaaaason,” Ferguson continued, eating the thrown cookie chunk.

            “Ferguson _shuddup!”_ Marco whispered, embarrassed.

            “Just making an observation,” Ferguson shrugged nonchalantly, trying not to laugh with Alfonso.

            Now, Tom was smart. He caught on quick to Ferguson’s little antics.

            “I gotta use the bathroom,” Marco muttered, getting up quickly without making eye contact with Tom.

            Once Marco left audible range, Tom was practically interrogating them.

            “Wait, so does Marco, like… y’know?” Tom asked quickly, motioning his hands around.

            “Does he love you?” Alfonso said, as if he needed clarification.

            Tom’s face lit up- well, actually a few strands of his hair caught on fire, but lighting up is lighting up. He nodded quickly, and checked behind him as if Marco would return already.

            “Oh my _gosh_ , dude!” Ferguson nearly shouted, “He never shuts up about you!”

            “Really?” Tom asked, suddenly facing Ferguson entirely, completely unbelieving.

            “Yeah man. It’s almost annoying.”

            “Almost?” Alfonso repeated, “It’s already annoying.”

            “Yeah, but he’s not like some kids who are _super bad_ about it, like making out at lunch or anything. He just talks,” Ferguson shrugged, “It could be worse.”        

            “But has he _said_ , out loud in person, that he-” Tom cleared his throat and whispered: “loves me?”

            “Uhh, probably?” Ferguson shrugged, “I don’t really write down what he says or anything?”      

            “Just yes or no!” Tom huffed, starting to feel mildly irritated. He had been doing much better with his anger, but if these boys didn’t give him a straight answer soon!

            Ferguson and Alfonso looked at each other, trying to figure out the answer. They both mumbled things like “I don’t know” and “maybe? Probably…”

            “Look Tom,” Ferguson finally said, shrugging, “Even if he hasn’t said it word-for-word, he totally does.”

            “Do you?” Alfonso asked, and suddenly their table was quiet.

            But before Tom could open his mouth, they were interrupted.

            “Do you what?” Marco asked, sitting back down next to Tom calmly.

            “Uhh,” Alfonso and Ferguson muttered, minds racing.

            “Do you like nachos!” Alfonso said quickly, with an all-too-suspicious smile.

            “And yes, I do.” Tom nodded, acting as if that’s all they’d talked about since Marco left.

            “Well, mine are the best, there’s no way he wouldn’t like them,” Marco chuckled, eating the rest of his food.

            As the other boys relaxed and finished their lunch, Tom took a deep sigh of relief- that was _close_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have i mentioned i love ferg? i love ferg


	18. Chapter 18: Pool Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom invites Marco to his pool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im back again! only a few day break this time! haha! love all of you and all your REALLY REALLY NICE WORDS TH A NK Y OU

 

            “I still don’t get how you guys can have regular swimming pools down here…” Marco mumbled, staring down at his feet. A few inches away was a regular, generic swimming pool. A swimming pool with averagely cool water.

            Cool water… even though the fence around it was made of flames.

            “I don’t understand physics in your dimension, Tom.” Marco said flatly.

            “Physics or not, are you going to actually go _in_ the pool?” Tom laughed, already comfortably lounging on an inner tube, floating around aimlessly in the pool.

            They both wore wearing swim trunks, and Marco also wore an old grey T-shirt.

            “Fine, fine,” Marco said, and with a smile he walked down each little step into the pool.

            “At least it’s not too cold, right?” Tom chuckled, pushing his inner tube towards Marco, paddling with his hands.

            “It is pretty nice,” Marco admitted, quickly getting used to the water.

            “Want an inner tube?” Tom asked, “I have an extra.”

            “Nah, I just like floating around on my own,” Marco said, already doggy paddling around a little, “Thanks for inviting me, though.”

            Tom smiled as a reply, and relaxed back into his lounging position.

            After getting entirely used to the water, Marco swam over to Tom and rested his arms on the inner tube, near Tom’s head.

            They floated around peacefully, and Marco laughed internally at how he was starting to find _fences of flames_ relaxing.

            “I’m glad we started dating…” Marco mumbled.

            Tom’s eyes blinked open, and faced Marco in surprise for a moment, then smiled back warmly.

            “Yeah, me too…” Tom nodded, “You’re a great boyfriend.”

            “Heh, thanks,” Marco smiled, “You too.”

            Tom smiled even wider. Even though he owned a pool, he wasn’t much of a swimmer. But when Marco mentioned that he really enjoyed swimming pools, Tom immediately invited him over to swim in his own pool. And yeah, even his dimension had normal pools. Who cares about physics?

            “I hope…” Marco started, clearing his throat and looking down, “I hope we stay together for a while.”

            Tom felt another surge of affection- and _love_ \- for Marco, and couldn’t hold himself back. He leaned over towards Marco for a kiss, smack on the lips.

            And his inner tube flipped right over, throwing Tom into Marco’s torso and splashing water everywhere.

            “Aah!” They both shouted, falling back into the water.

            Thankfully, the shock wasn’t too bad and they stood back up, and breathed air once again.

            “Hahaha!” Marco roared, splashing the water with his hand from laughter.

            Tom laughed with Marco, but couldn’t help feel a _tad_ embarrassed at that little mishap. Thankfully he had a much better control of his emotions nowadays, or the pool would turn into a hot tub.

            Marco had caught Tom as he fell, and even though they were standing up again, Marco still had his hands tightly around Tom’s waist. One of Tom’s hands was on Marco’s shoulder, the other was out to balance him as he stood up. Tom quickly realized that this was the first time Marco had held him by his bare skin, since he always wore _clothes_ on regular dates.

            There was something about Marco’s smile that drove Tom wild. Maybe it was because of Tom’s fall, maybe it was because his face was dripping water, and his hair was matted together. Maybe it was because Tom felt safe in Marco’s hold around him. Whatever the reason, Tom felt like he was in a dream, and didn’t have any control over his heart.

            “I love you…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gasp!


	19. Chapter 19: The Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Marco have a talk about love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOES THAT SAY FINALE? Y E S it does! That's right folks, after leaving you for like two months, the fic is finally ending!!!! Get ready:

 

            “What?!” Marco squeaked, jumping in his spot, albeit slowly since he was in water.

            “ _What?!”_ Tom repeated, much more panicked. He stepped backwards, covering his mouth.

            “Wait, do you-”

            “NO!” Tom shouted, interrupting Marco, “I mean-yes, well not if- I mean, uh!”

            Marco’s face was filled with confusion and worry for a moment, then suddenly it was replaced by pain.

            “Ow!!!” Marco yelped, quickly hopping out the edge of the pool.

            Tom realized his panic caused the pool to heat up beyond an ordinary hot tub.

            “Ah, I-I’m sorry!” Tom said, starting to run out of the pool himself, to run far, far away. But as he bolted out of the steps, he was caught by the wrist.

            “No!” Marco said, worried yet strong, “Don’t run!”

            Tom blinked, then stopped pulling away and stood still, staring into the still bubbling pool.

            “I don’t want you to run away this time. We’re going to _talk_ , okay?” Marco said, somewhat assertive.

            Tom realized that every time something drastic happened between then, he would always run away and hide. He hid after the dance, after their awful first date, and so on.

            And Marco didn’t want him to run anymore. It wouldn’t be fair to Marco…

            “A-Alright…” Tom mumbled, nodding. His emotions were still bursting, and he noticed Marco’s hand was a little red when he removed it from Tom’s wrist.

            They both sat down, next to the pool edge, neither one going back into the hot water. Tom was afraid he’d boil it all away if he even touched it.

            “So…” Marco started slowly, also avoiding eye-contact.

            “So.” Tom repeated. He decided to try ‘warming up’- no pun intended, “sorry about burning you a little…”

            Marco shook his head a little, dismissively.

            “No, it’s okay. I, um, I don’t want you to feel bad about your emotions or anything…”

            Tom nodded a little. If this was a regular conversation, he would be honored that Marco was accepting of his emotions, fire included. However, Tom’s mind was a little occupied.

            “So, like… did you just say that on a whim, or…?” Marco asked, quietly.

            “No!” Tom said quickly, then quieted down as well, “N-no. It wasn’t a whim.”

            “Mmm.” Marco nodded, staring at the water.

            “Are you-” Tom started, then scratched his arm, figuring out how to word it, “Is that bad?”

            “No!” Marco said, his turn to be loud all of the sudden, “It’s not bad, I promise!”

            “So does that mean that you…?” Tom asked, clearing his throat at the end of his question. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to ask with the _actual_ words.

            “I’m… not sure.” Marco answered after a moment.

            Tom nodded.

            To be honest, Tom wasn’t sure how he felt about that answer. He wasn’t mad at Marco- a relief- but he wasn’t exactly overjoyed either. Good news: Marco isn’t mad that Tom loves him. Bad news: Marco doesn’t feel the same. Possible. He’s not even sure himself.

            “Wh-what do you mean?” Tom asked, hoping for a little bit more explanation, “I mean, I don’t want to pressure you, but…”

            “No, it’s okay,” Marco said, readjusting how he was sitting, slowly lowering one foot into the water to test the temperature, “Um… How do I explain…”

            “I guess,” Marco re-started, taking a deep breath, “I definitely _could_. But, I’m not sure if I do yet? Does that make sense? I haven’t really thought a lot about it… Like, I’ve thought about love, and if I _could_ love you. But, well, I guess I never really thought about if I _did_. I guess it’s just, like, my parents always talked about how it’s such a ‘big commitment’ and ‘takes time’, so I always had this idea that it would happen in the future, since it takes so long? Or something like that… Sorry, I’m rambling.”

            “No, no, it’s okay,” Tom said, quickly, “Thank you.”

            Marco nodded, still awkwardly swishing his foot in the now only slightly-warm-water.

            “And you really-” Marco started, copying Tom’s ‘clearing his throat to say the words’, “-feel that way for me?”

            Tom knew that if he opened his mouth for an explanation, words wouldn’t come out right, so he just nodded slowly.

            “Why me?” Marco asked, finally reaching up for their first eye-contact since this whole ordeal started.

            “Why you?” Tom repeated incredulously, “What do you mean _why you_?”

            “Well, like,” Marco mumbled, back to staring at the water again, “I’m just kind of surprised, I guess. I’m kind of plain, compared to you or Star.”

            Tom blinked, then remembered that Marco didn’t have the world’s best self-confidence, either.

            “You’re not plain to me,” Tom shrugged, wringing out his hands to help the words come out, “I think you’re pretty awesome, actually.”

            “But why would you- why would you _love_ me?” Marco asked, finally saying the _word_ , and looking up to Tom like he expected Tom to say he was joking the whole time.

            “Because…” Tom mumbled, then took a deep breath and closed his bottom two eyes, the top one stared anxiously at Marco’s hands, “Because you’re so _nice_! You’re, like, the first person to say I’m allowed to be angry! You _want_ to come to my dimension and _want_ me to act like myself and you _want_ me to express myself! You don’t care if I’m weird in your dimension! I-… I love you because you _care_ …”

            Tom felt the ground below him heat up, and noticed Marco pull his foot back out of the water again, since Tom’s heat was probably reaching the water from the ground.

            This only embarrassed Tom more, and he closed all of his eyes and hid his face under his hands.

            “I’m sorry…” Tom wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for- for boiling the water, for saying he loved Marco, for his weird explanation? Maybe for all of it.

            Marco was silent, and since Tom’s eyes were all closed and hidden, he had no idea what Marco was doing. With Tom’s luck, he probably got up and left. But even Tom knew that wouldn’t happen; Marco was too kind.

            “I’m sorry, too.” Marco finally said.

            Even with his eyes closed, Tom’s ears still worked, and he could tell there was a sudden thickness to Marco’s voice. Glancing up with one of his eyes, his suspicions were confirmed.

            Marco was crying.

            Now, Tom’s eyes were tearing up already just from his embarrassment, but seeing Marco’s eyes redden too pushed him to nearly bawling.

            “I’m sorry!!!” Tom practically shouted, feeling guilty, like he made Marco cry.

            “No!” Marco huffed, “Don’t be sorry! _I’m_ sorry!”

            Tom blinked, and wiped his eyes.

            “…what?” Tom whispered, calming down.

            “I’m _sorry_.” Marco repeated, and sighed, “I’m sorry…”

            “Why?” Tom asked, hoping that Marco wasn’t mad at him.

            “You sound so worked up about this!” Marco explained, staring at Tom and practically forcing Tom to make eye-contact, “And I’ve just been avoiding it like some little kid! And… you really care about me…”

            Tom nodded, quietly. For once, he didn’t feel the need to deny Marco’s apology. It was true, after all. Tom _had_ been really worked up over this, and Marco _had_ been mentally avoiding it, apparently.

            “Yeah…” Tom whispered, nodding a little, “I do…”

            “I really care about you too,” Marco smiled slightly, reaching over to gently hold Tom’s hand. Tom made an active effort not to burn Marco’s hand.

            “That’s enough for me,” Tom said after a moment, trying to help but only sounding like some sad puppy.

            Marco thought for a moment, then shook his head. Tom watched, confused.

            Suddenly, Marco held Tom’s hand tighter and looked him in the eye.

            “You know, I think my parents have it a little wrong.” Marco said, “They said it takes a long time to fall in love.”

            Tom tilted his head a little, confused where Marco was going with this. Then, Marco looked into Tom’s eyes and said with the widest smile yet:

            “But… I just did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END
> 
> ...  
> Thank you guys so much!!!!!!!!!! sO MUCH!!!!! You guys stuck with me through "Too Little Too Late... Or is it?" and finally through the drama of "Another Word For 'Us'"! A sequel of a sequel! You guys have been so encouraging, with all these kudos and bookmarks; but the thing that really helps me is all those wonderful comments you guys leave in each and every chapter! It really helped me through a tough time, and now you guys finally get to see it through the end! And don't worry: This is faaaar from the last TomCo fic I'll write. I have plenty more ideas floating around in that brain of mine! But yeah, I just basically wanted to say a big ol' THANK YOU  
> (Also, feel free to message my tumblr, dramaticdragon.tumblr.com , if you have any ideas or prompts you might like to see! I can't promise anything, though, so i might not get to do all of them, but you never know!!!!)


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